The Royal Yacht Club Port de Pollença is preparing for four days of competition that will test the skills of 138 young sailors from nine autonomous communities. Among the participants are several prominent names from the recent World Championships, in a fleet that makes the waters of Mallorca one of the focal points of national youth sailing.
The Spanish ILCA 4 Championship begins this Thursday with registration and technical inspections, before all attention shifts to the race course from Friday, October 30, to Sunday, November 1. The championship brings together 86 boys and 52 girls, with 92 athletes in the under-16 category and 46 more in the under-18.
Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, and the Valencian Community lead the participation, with 21 sailors each. The Canary Islands contribute 18; Murcia, 14; the Basque Country, nine; Galicia, seven; and Cantabria, six. In the case of the Balearic Islands, the contingent includes athletes from twelve clubs, which demonstrates the breadth of the region’s talent pool.
World Champions and Title Contenders
The men’s category features two sailors who have made a name for themselves thanks to their recent international results: Xuacu García, from the Royal Yacht Club of Palma, and Ángel Peñalver, from the Mar Menor Nautical Club. Both arrive in Mallorca after being crowned the under-16 world champion and the under-16 world runner-up, respectively.
Unai de Ugarte, from the Real Club Náutico d’Arrecife, has joined the list of candidates after finishing tenth in the overall standings at the World Championships held in Aarhus. His presence raises the level of a competition that will bring together some of the most promising sailors in the class.
In the women’s fleet, much of the attention will be on Marta Ferrando, from the Real Club Náutico de Valencia. The European and Spanish under-16 champion also arrives having finished fifth in the world in her category. Her main rivals include Begoña Pérez-Manglano, from the Jávea Nautical Club, who finished tenth at the Under-16 World Championships, and Sofía Leal, from the s’Arenal Nautical Club, winner of the Balearic Islands Championship held recently in these same waters.
Four days of activities at the club
The opening day will be dedicated to welcoming participants and checking equipment from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, before the team captains and coaches meeting, scheduled for 6:00 PM. The on-water competition will begin on Friday, October 30, with the first warning signal at 11:00 AM. The schedule will be the same on Saturday and Sunday, when the trophies will be awarded at the end of the races.
For the Royal Yacht Club Port de Pollença, the event comes just ten days after hosting the ILCA 4 Championship of the Balearic Islands. This event served to perfect the logistics and check the conditions of the race course, which will now host a larger fleet with some of the top names in Spanish youth sailing.
